SD Toronado ends January w a bang

[Banjo]

We're ending the first month of 2013 with a bang: 6 beers from New Belgium Brewing's Lips of Faith series on draft on Thursday beginning at 3pm. With the exception of the newly-released Biere de Garde, we have been sitting on all of these kegs for a while now: a couple of old favorites joined by some intriguing "newcomers". Let's begin:

First up (and a first for New Belgium) is their Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout- Lots of roasted dark (Midnight, barley) malt bring this stout up to 10% abv and make it "warm & boozy" with "a slight lingering astringency from the espresso". Sounds good to us.

Next we have the Peach Porch Lounger- this strong (9.4%) straw-colored ale is brewed with peaches and molasses and then dosed with Brettanomyces. NB claims that with a bit of age (our keg has been in our walk-in for 6 months) the Brett will add pineapple & funk. We're looking forward to trying this as well.

Third is a keg of the first version of the New Belgium/ Lost Abbey collaboration Bretta Beer. Another keg we've had since last summer, Bretta is pale, 7.5% abv, hopped with Target, Centennial and Sorachi Ace hops and received a full Brettanomyces fermentation. This should be tasting really good about now. Although some expect beers with the Brett wild yeast to be hit-you-in-the-head sour; instead look for a more "refined" funk. Give this one a try.

NB got together with Michigan's Brewery Vivant to produce a Biere de Garde that is a strong (9%) version of this classic French style (think the French version of a Belgian Saison) with lots of phenolic yeast flavors up front that still ends up very dry.

Tart Lychee is the brainchild of New Belgium's Lauren Salazar. The sweetness of the added Lychee fruit is countered by the barrel-aged sour beer resulting in a 7.5 % abv beer that is beautifully dry; puckering and sweet at the same time.

Lastly, one of the best American beers out there, La Folie. From the NB website:
"La Folie Wood-Aged Biere, is our original wood-conditioned beer, resting in French Oak barrels between one and three years before being bottled. [Head brewer] Peter Bouckaert came to us from Rodenbach, home of the fabled sour red. Our La Folie emulates the spontaneous fermentation beers of Peter's beloved Flanders with sour apple notes, a dry effervescence, and earthy undertones."
A truly great beer, and one of our favorites for sure.

So that's the deal for Thursday. As we said, the beers will go on at 3 pm. They are all 1/2 bbl kegs, and since they will be served in either 10 or 13 oz glasses we expect that they will be around for a couple of days, but don't wait too long! We'll see you here...

Toronado San Diego
in North Park...

4026 30th Street
SD CA 92104
Tel: 619.282.0456